Five 21-year-old men arrested with prohibited weapons to kill hundreds of people free on bond the next day
HOUSTON - "This is a disaster waiting to happen," said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers.
On June 23, five 21-year-olds were pulled over by a Houston police officer for running a stop sign.
"I can't imagine the look on his face when he saw what was inside the car, and then when he opened the trunk," Kahan said.
According to court documents, each man had a weapon and four were seen handling a Glock with auto sear converting it to a fully automatic handgun, a prohibited weapon.
The document states multiple weapons and accessories were found in the trunk.
"11 armor piercing rounds on an ammo belt, and one of the guys actually had a Glock handgun, that was found in his underwear," said Kahan,
"This sounds like something out of a movie," said crime victims' advocate April Aguirre. "What normal five 21-year-olds run around in a vehicle in the city of Houston with armor piercing rounds."
"The District Attorney's office asked for a $75,000 bond on each case," Kahan said.
But 174th Criminal District Court Judge Hazel Jones set bond for four of the defendants at just $10,000. 184th Judge Katherine Thomas set bond for the fifth defendant at $10,000 as well.
"They have converted their handguns and assault rifles to fully automatic, yet we let them out on bond," Aguirre said.
The five were out of jail and back out on the street within a day.
"They're out, so what does that tell the criminal?" said Aguirre. "It's ok what you've done, there's no real consequences to your actions, go right on,"
"I shudder to think what might have happened if this officer hadn't been able to pull them over just for running a stop sign," Kahan said.